More than likely, you have several half-empty, old nail polish bottles sitting around in your house. Many places will not accept nail polish bottles for recycling since nail polish is very toxic. So rather than throwing them out, you can use that old nail polish for a wide variety of things.

Stretch it Out
Before covering other uses for nail polish, there are simple ways to extend the life of your favorite polishes.

If your nail polish has become clumpy or hardened, add a few drops of acetone or paint thinner. Your polish will be more liquid and ready to use.

If you only have a tiny bit of a great color left, use it up with a toothpick to draw designs onto your nails.

You can try mixing different shades of nail polish to create a brand-new unique one.



Functional Uses for Nail Polish
Nail polish, especially clear shades can be extremely useful to have around the house.

Stop a run in your tights or pantyhose with a quick dab of a similarly colored or clear nail polish.

If you get a chip in your windshield, prevent it from spreading with some clear nail polish.

Prevent rust rings in your bathroom cabinets by painting the bottom of shaving cream cans and other metal containers with nail polish.

Use a deep or bright color to mark your measuring cups to make the lines clearer or to add imperial/metric measurement.

Mark levels (pint, litre, gallon, etc.) inside buckets or large Tupperware containers so you can measure large quantities.

Clearly label poisonous and toxic chemicals under the sink with red.

Seal an envelope with nail polish. Not only do you avoid licking to seal the envelope, but by sealing it with nail polish no one can use the old steam from a kettle trick to read your letter.

Nail polish actually makes a great glue whether you’re making a collage or gluing stones that fell out of a jewelery piece.

Have a hard time threading a needle? Put a dab of nail polish on the end to stiffen the thread, then you can easily thread it.



Decorative Uses for Nail Polish

You can use nail polish to paint more or less anything: cell phones, picture frames, hair clips, etc. However, if you’re going to be doing a lot of painting do yourself a favor and pour it out and paint with a larger paintbrush.

Painting some objects will help you tell yours apart from someone else’s (especially siblings), for example sports equipment, handheld video games, etc.

Using a rock and some nail polish, you can make a really neat paperweight or doorstop. Put half an inch of water in a pie plate and put a few drops of nail polish on the water. Slowly roll the rock around in the water to coat it. Then let it dry on newspaper.

To make interesting card paper, wrapping paper or notebook covers, place paper in the bottom of a box. Pour different colors of nail polish on the paper. Add some marbles onto the paper and roll them around. The marbles will carry the polish all over the paper and give you a cool splatter pattern.